Searching LegiStorm
LegiStorm's various search interfaces combine simple and intuitive searching for the average user and powerful search capability for the dedicated user.
Boolean searches work in all of LegiStorm's searches except Privately Financed Travel and Earmarks.
Our search uses the following operators:
-
Use & to find words appearing together (AND):
hello & world
Use | to find either one word or the other (OR):
hello | world
Use - or ! to find one word but not another (NOT):
hello -world
hello !world
Use ( ) to group terms together to combine search operators and build more complex searches:
(hello world)
Here's an example query which uses all these operators:
cat - (mouse | dog)
This search will return all the instances of "cat" excluding the words "dog" and/or "mouse".
LegiStorm goes further than most other services and provides an extended set of operators to help you further refine your searches.
Note: While search results only include items that match your search exactly, all the terms in the search will be highlighted.
Search for any complete phrase using quotation marks:
"defense appropriations"
Search for a defined number that occur in a phrase:
"Iraq Egypt Syria Iran Palestine"/3
In the example you see results where at least 3 of the 5 words in the list appear.
Search for words that appear in a defined order (BEFORE):
deputy << chief
Search for the exact words (This turns off stemming.):
=training =program
Search for a word or set of words within a given range of each other. This lets you find different ways your terms may be combined:
"campaign reform" NEAR/10 partisan"
Search for all the words occurring together in a single sentence:
health SENTENCE reform
Search for all the words occurring together in a single paragraph:
"health care" PARAGRAPH "partisan"
